Various fire sprinkler systems have been proposed having a slidable valve held in a closed position by a locking mechanism releasably held by an ambient temperature responsive element, whereby when the ambient temperature reaches a certain elevation, the temperature responsive element is actuated releasing the locking mechanism, thereby allowing the valve to slide to the open position.
The locking mechanism most frequently employed in these sprinkler systems includes a ball-lock arrangement wherein a plurality of circumferentially spaced balls extend between the valve and the temperature responsive element, whereby the force biasing the valve to the open position is distributed evenly to all of the balls, thereby preventing too much stress being transmitted to any single part of the lock. While these locking mechanisms have been satisfactory for their intended purpose, they are expensive, they involve many small, close tolerance machine parts, and they are difficult to assemble.
After considerable research and experimentation, the locking mechanism of the present invention has been devised which is comparably inexpensive, has few parts, and is easy to assemble.